Baking With Mom

I went home for a visit this past weekend.  I found some pictures of me as a young girl baking that I wanted to share with you, which I am sure you will get a kick out of.

Growing up I had 2 favourite desserts that my mom would make, which are still my favourites to this day.  One was the Mocha Frozen Cheesecake which I have mentioned earlier.  The second, is my Mother's Chocolate Cake Roll.  This past weekend we made it together!

We used vanilla sugar, which my mom makes on a regular basis.

The cake roll is a jelly roll, which is a light and airy cake, due to the fact that there is no fat in the cake.  The eggs get seperated then beaten and folded in together.  My mother also showed me the proper technique of folding, which is to "cut in the middle, bring it back up on the side".

When the cake comes out of the oven, you have to work quite quickly and fold the cake with a towel, so that the cake is trained to take that shape.

Once the cake has cooled, you can fill the cake with whipped cream, or even ice cream!

Then we iced it with chocolate icing, and decorated it with some cherries and toasted coconut.

Over the years my Mother makes coffee flavoured whipped cream, so that the cake roll is more of a Mocha Cakeroll.  The coffee flavoured whipped cream adds a richness and sophistication to the cake.  But since I was learning to make it with my Mom for the first time, I wanted to have it the way I remembered as a little girl (probably the age I was in the photos at the beginning of this entry).  It was everything I remembered.  I even snuck a piece to take with me when I left and ate in on the train ride back to Toronto. 

I wish my mother and I lived closer so that we could bake together more often.  It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to the next time we bake together!

Love from,
April's SweetShop

The "NO" Cake

I had an order for a birthday cake this week.  They wanted 2 chocolate cakes to spell out the word "NO".  Apparently the birthday boy says the word "NO" a lot, so his co-workers thought it would be clever to give him a "NO" birthday cake!  It was a bit of a challenge for me, but a lot of fun! 

First I made the chocolate cakes.  Afterwards I cut the cakes to form out the letters "N" and "O".

They wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  But I wondered, what could I put in the middle of the cake layers to add something different?  Raspberry?  Whipped Cream?  What about a chocolate mousse, I thought...  And so my search began for a chocolate mousse to have as the cakes filling.

I remembered that I used to find great recipes on Godiva's website.  I found this recipe and made the mousse:  http://www.godiva.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?id=464
I let it set in the fridge overnight, and hoped it would thicken and turn into a mousse that could spread.  When I went to fill those layers of cake, the mousse proved to be the perfect filling.  But not only that, it was absolutely delicious.  It was almost like a chocolatey dulce de leche, if you can imagine that.  This is definitely going to be a filling that I use going forward.

I used my Mother's recipe for chocolate icing, which is my 'go-to' chocolate icing (family secret recipe, of course).   With the super moist cake layers, light chocolate mousse and thick fudgy buttery icing, this cake would satisfy the biggest chocoholic! 

I wonder if this gentleman will change his outlook this year and start saying yes.... I'm thinking an "S" would be quite the challenge!

Have a wonderful long weekend and a Happy Easter,

April's SweetShop

Red Velvet Cupcakes - Take 2

I was disappointed with my first run at Red Velvet Cupcakes.  I have been finding that these "butter-based" cakes are just far too heavy for a cupcake.  Now, this may come as a surprise, but I do not have a lot of experience in making anything by Martha Stewart.  Obviously everyone knows her, she has tons of cookbooks and magazines, and she also has a Cupcake Book.  So I thought I would give her Red Velvet Cupcakes a try.  Guess what?  They were AMAZING!  They were light, moist, and fluffy.  They had the perfect cupcake consistency.  And they stayed moist the entire weekend, until the last cupcake was gone! 


Red Velvet Cupcakes

I purchased a red food colouring paste, as I wanted the cupcakes to be red, rather then magenta.  I highly recommend using the concentrated paste, as it gives a true colour.  The red food colouring that you get at the grocery store just does not cut it!

As you can see, the colour is much better!

This time, I made a cream cheese frosting, rather then the buttercream that Magnolia Bakery chooses to do.

My brother could not stop eating them :)

http://www.marthastewart.com/317517/red-velvet-cupcakes

I hope you have enjoyed my baking adventures this week!

Love from,
April's SweetShop

Mocha Frozen Cheesecake

My bestie was throwing her fiance his 35th birthday party this past weekend.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend, so I decided to send a birthday cheesecake in my place! 

Mocha Frozen Cheesecake was my favourite dessert growing up, and is still one of my favourites to this day.  It doesn't taste like a cheesecake, as there is only 1 package of cream cheese in it.  Instead, it tastes like the most wonderful creamiest icecream, on top of a sugary and buttery oreo cookie!


Mocha Frozen Cheesecake

First you make an oreo crust, which is normally easy to do.  But a lot of grocery stores have stopped carrying Oreo cookie crumbs, which caused a bit of panic.  I had to go to 3 stores before finding them.  I emptied their shelf...

Then comes the good part:



I hope you had a wonderful birthday Brian!

Cupcakes and Scones

My first official order - Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes

A friend of mine was throwing her husband his 40th birthday party on Friday and she placed an order for some cupcakes for the special event!  She asked for some chocolate and vanilla.  Rather then "40" on the cupcakes, she had a theme of "33+7" for his birthday.  I wasn't sure how I felt about writing 33+7 the traditional way, in a coloured buttercream frosting because I know this friend, and she doesn't like anything cheesy or tacky, so I knew I had to come up with something more elegant but also something that would be okay for a man.  She wanted the white cupcakes to be white, and the brown chocolate to be brown chocolate.  So I thought, why not write out some letters in white chocolate for the vanilla cupcakes, and brown chocolate for the brown cupcakes?  I had SO much fun doing this order!

I had 17 mini cupcakes that spelled out "Happy Birthday Mike"

And then I had 12 regular sized cupcakes that said "33+7"

I hope that everyone enjoyed the cupcakes! 


Cranberry Orange Scones with Raspberry Butter

I love Barefoot Contessa, aka Ina Garten!  I have never made anything of hers that did not turn out.  Her Cranberry Scones served with Raspberry Butter is a 'go-to' recipe when having people over for brunch, such as yesterday.  When warm out of the oven, these scones are buttery, flaky and delicious.  Then you put a dollop of the raspberry butter (a dollop on each and every bite of course) and you are just so happy inside! 

Now, in Ina's recipe, it tells you to put the flour in your KitchenAid mixer, then add the butter to that and blend till the butter are 'pea size'.  However, I do not do that.  I do it the old fashion way and cut the butter into the flour with knives, then a pastry cutter. 

http://www.food.com/recipe/cranberry-orange-scones-barefoot-contessa-ina-garten-186672


Tonight is my final class in the Baking Arts program.  We are making Strawberry Shortcake with chocolate dipped strawberries. 

Until next time, Love and Happy Baking!
April's SweetShop